Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1942)

RIDING! SINGING! SHOOTING! GALLIVANTING! with sno — — ' null Smiley BURNETTE • George "Gabby" HAYES in BOB NOLAN and the SONS OF THE PIONEERS RUTH TERRY WALTER CATLETT PAUL HARVEY EDMUND McDonald LEIGH WHIPPER WILLIAM HAADE and THE HALL JOHNSON CHOIR Choral Arrangements by Hall Johnson BUY WAR BONDS AND STAMPS REPUBLIC PICTURE as an Army sergeant and Lucien Littlefield as an inventor add to the rather silly maneuvers. (Nov.) HOLIDAY Z.VAf— Paramount : The blending of rred Astaire's dancing and Bing Crosby's singing is 'all to the good and Irving Berlin's tunes make this a special treat. Bing leaves their act to run an inn open only on holidays. To the inn as a performer comes lovely Marjorie Reynolds and Fred tries to steal her away. Virginia Dale is also involved. (Oct.) ICELAND— 20th Century-Fox : Some of the best skating of her career is presented by Sonja Henie; but the story's only fair. It has Sonja, an Iceland maid, grabbing off John Payne, a Marine on the island, before he knews where he is. Osa Massen is Sonja's sister. Jack Oakie clowns on skates very funnily and Sammy Kaye and his orchestra provide some swell music. (Nov.) IN OLD CALIFORNIA— Republic: John Wayne comes out West from Boston to open up a muchneeded drugstore, but villainous Albert Dekker, jealous over dance-hall queen Binnie Barnes's interest in Wayne, poisons the drugs and nearly succeeds in having John lynched. The sudden discovery of gold saves him, and the inevitable fight between the two almost wrecks the town. (Sept.) \^ INVISIBLE AGENT— Frank Lloyd-Universal: Jon Hall, who inherits the secret of invisibility, offers his services to his country, flies over Germany, becomes invisible and gets embroiled in some very amusing and intriguing escapades. Ilona Massey is the girl spy; Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Peter Lorre and J. Edward Bromberg are the Axis agents. You'll enjoy it. (Oct.) ISLE OF MISSING MEN— Monogram: A rather suspenseful little melodrama with John Howard as the governor of a penal colony. He befriends Helen Gilbert who has come to the island to help her husband, Gilbert Roland, escape and much exciting action transpires before she is successful. (Nov.) \/ IT HAPPENED IN FLATBUSH— 20th Century-Fox: An exciting baseball yarn, with Lloyd Nolan terrific as the manager of the club that once ousted him as a player on trumped-up charges. George Holmes as the rookie befriended by Nolan shows great promise and Carole Landis as the object of young Holmes's heart is very beautiful. (Oct.) JACKASS MAIL— M-G-M: Wally Beery and Marjorie Main in their familiar story of a renegade of the old West who becomes regenerated through the orphaned son of the man Beery himself kills. It takes Darryl Hickman, the boy, and Marjorie -Main, fearless owner of the transport mail line, to civilize Wally. J. Carroll Naish is good as ever. (Nov.) ^ JOAN OF OZ^R/C— Republic: Corn, but good, IS this teaming of Judy Canova and Joe E. Brown, with all their ludicrous antics in store for you. Judy lands in Joe E.'s night club, where she's been brought from the Ozarks on a deal hatched by Nazi spies. Jerome Cowan is the spy and Eddie Foy Jr. is swell. The airplane sequence is a howl and it's all a lot of fun. (Oct.) LADY IN A JAM — Universal: Irene Dunne is an heiress badly in need of a psychoanalyst. She lands in bankruptcy, heads West and becomes embroiled in a phony gold mine. Ralph Bellamy is a cowboy out of-this-world and Patric Knowles the doctor, it's all pretty silly, so just laugh it off as one of those things. (Oct.) LITTLE TOKip, U. S. 20th Century-Fox: The West Coast's Japanese colony comes into the spotlight with this lively little epic of a police officer. Preston Foster, who suspects shenanigans in the Jap settlement. Comes Pearl Harbor, and he scoops up spies like fury. Brenda Joyce is his girl friend, and June Duprez, Harold Huber and George E. Stone are spies. (Nov.) MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, THE — RKO-Radio: Orson Welles has made a magnificent picture from the Booth Tarkington novel, presenting it with rare originality in photography and story telling. Tim Holt comes into his own as the spoiled son who ruins his own and his mother's life with his selfishness. Dolores Costello as his mother, Joe Gotten as the man who loves her, Anne Baxter and Agnes Moorehead are superb. (Sept.) \/ MAGNIFICENT DOPE. THE— 20th CenturyFox: Henry Fonda is the yokel jerk who conies to New York to claim his $500 prize as the magnificent dope, offered by success school manager Don Anieche and ends up by out smarting the smooth, fast-talking Ameche. Lynn Bari, as the girl, has ability, looks and charm, and Edward Everett Horton and George Barbier add a lot to the fun. (Sept.) MAISIE GETS HER MAN —SIG M: Pretty corny is this latest of the series, with Red Skelton a stage-struck yokel who convinces .Ann Sothern that he's a panic on the stage — until he gets there. The story, after a detour through a bond swindle, winds up in an Army camp. Allen Jenkins, Leo Gorcey and Donald Meek are a glecsome threesome. (.Sept.) MAJOR AND THE MINOR. THE— Para mount: Don't miss this gay comedy, with Ginger Rogers posing as a twelve year-old child and wreaking havoc with the boys at a iiulitary academy and with Major Ray Milland. Rita Johnson as Ray's suspicious fiancee, Diana Lynn, Rita's younger sister 20 who knows the truth about Ginger but helps her, and Robert Benchley add to the fun. (Oct.) MEXICAN SPITFIRES ELEPHANT— RKORadio: Leon Errol again plays the dual role of Lord Epping and Uncle Matt, with Lupe Velez all over the place trying to help out Uncle Matt when smuggled jewels are hidden in an onyx elephant and the elephant must be returned pronto. Walter Reed is Lupe's husband, and Lyle Talbot and Marion Martin are the smugglers. (Nov.) MOON AND SIXPENCE, THE— David L. Loew-Albert Lewin, Inc.; George Sanders is the painter of Somerset Maugham's famous story, who leaves his wife and children to live the life of a starving artist, and Herbert Marshall the writer who narrates the story. Their performances, as well as those of Daris Dudley and Steve Geray, are most impressive. It's a strange and fascinatiiig tale, but leads to no climactic crescendo. MOONLIGHT MASQUERADE— Republic: Den nis O'Keefe and Jane Frazee have to marry each other or forfeit a fortune. Since they've never met, Jane has her nutty secretary Betty Kean impersonate her at the arranged meeting, and O'Keefe has Eddie Foy Jr. do the same for him. Need we say more — except that Jane sings delightfully and Betty's dancing is swell? (Sept.) NIGHT FOR CRIME. ^—Producers Releasing Corp.: Murder mystery, with the victim a movie star, played by Lina Basquette. Glenda Farrell is the newspaper reporter and Lyle Talbot the studio press agent. Newspaper columnists Jimmy Starr, Edwin Schallert and Erskine Johnson plav themselves. (Oct.) NIGHT IN NEW ORLEANS— Paramount: Preston Foster is a police lieutenant who's accused of murder by Albert Dekker, another police officer. Patricia Morison is Foster's silly wife and Cecil Kellaway is dragged in to complicate things even more than they are already. (Sept.) ^ ONE THRILLING A7C//r— Monogram: A bedroom riot is this comedy with John Beal as the bridegroom who has t%venty-four hours to honeymoon with bride Wanda McKay before his induction into the Army. But into their room parade gangsters, cops and robbers, dumb house detective and hoodlums. Tom Neal and Warren Hvmer add to the laughs. (Oct.) \/ ORCHESTRA WIVES— 20th Century-Fox: All about the love lives of members of a band, with Glenn Miller's band providing all the music. George Montgomery is a trumpet player, Ann Rutherford his wife. Mary Beth Hughes, Carole Landis and Virginia Gilmore, other orchestra wives, start all the trouble between them. Cesar Romero is the pianist and Lyn Bari the singer. (Nov.) PACIFIC RENDEZVOUS— }il-G-yi: Both Lee Bowman as a naval officer who craves action but gets a desk job of deciphering code, and Jean Rogers as the girl in his life, deserve better material than this. Spies Mona Maris, Carl Esmond, and Blanche Yurka are so obviously spies it all becomes a bit ridiculous. (Sept.) PALM BEACH STORY, TW£— Paramount: This so-called comedy misses a mile, despite the cleverness of Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea who play the separated husband and wife. Claudette, out to garner new laurels, finds them in millionaire Rudy Vallee. Mary Astor is good, but the antics are as antiquated as an antimacassar. (Nov.) PANAMA HATTIE—M G-M: A pleasant, delightful-in-spots musical that boasts Ann Sothern as star, Dan Dailey Jr.. as the rich soldier boy, and a trio of comics. Red Skelton. Rags Ragland and Ben Blue. The singing of Lena Horne. the dancing of the Berry Brothers and the dead-pan warbling of Virginia O'Brien also brighten it up no end. Little Jackie Horner is very good. (Oct.) PARDON MY 5^R0.V (J— Universal: By far the funniest of the Abbott and Costello riots, this is madcap fun from its beginning where the pair take their crosstown Chicago bus to Los .■\ngeles to its hilarious finish on a South Sea isle. Robert Paige is the romantic lead, Virginia Bruce lovely as the girl, Lionel Atwill a villain, and Abbott and Costello are at their best. (Nov.) \/\/' PIED PIPER. THE— 20th Century-Fox: Monty Woolley is an elderly Englishman in France when the Naais invade. As a favor, he agrees tc take two English children back to England with him, but the pair expand into a group as Mr. Woolley travels back through devastated France, and then the Nazis catch up with him. It's drama with a chuckle, a laugh with a tear; in fact, the picture's a gem. (Sept.) PIERRE OF THE PLAINS— MG-M: John Cttt roll is a devil-may-care French Canadian accused of murder but too busy helping a friend escape another murder indictment to care much. We don't care about it either. Ruth Hussey is shamefully miscast and Bruce Cabot. Phil Brown and Henry Travers are poor, weary fellow travelers. (Oct.) PRIDE OF THE l'.-}.VAv"££5'— Goldwyn: To the role of Lou Gehrig, beloved star of baseball Gary Cooper brings all the gentleness, simplicity, and sincerity of the first baseman. Teresa Wright as Mrs. Gehrig l>ecomes Hollywood's most important {.Ccntittucd on page 96) PHOTOPLAY COI7lbi»lCd IL-ifh MOVIE MIRROR